Learning how to build a training program?

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So I've checked out https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1 which has some great resources, but I'm curious about how to learn to develop a training program to meet my specific needs.

For reference, I do aerial training (trapeze and pole) 3x/week, so I want my time spent lifting in the gym to work on the things I don't do in aerial. Since I work core and upper body pulling motions so hard in aerial I definitely don't want to be repeating any of those movements too much in the gym.

I imagine there must be a way to efficiently put together a training program as opposed to just throwing together all the movements I want to work on. Any books or websites that folks can recommend for learning how to put together your own effective training program?

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  • cupcakesandproteinshakes
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    jeagogo wrote: »
    So I've checked out https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1 which has some great resources, but I'm curious about how to learn to develop a training program to meet my specific needs.

    For reference, I do aerial training (trapeze and pole) 3x/week, so I want my time spent lifting in the gym to work on the things I don't do in aerial. Since I work core and upper body pulling motions so hard in aerial I definitely don't want to be repeating any of those movements too much in the gym.

    I imagine there must be a way to efficiently put together a training program as opposed to just throwing together all the movements I want to work on. Any books or websites that folks can recommend for learning how to put together your own effective training program?

    It may be worth paying a coach who has experience in programming for people in a similar situation. Is there anyone where you do your arial training who has done any resistance training that you could ask where they got their programming from?

    There are lots of good resources out there on programming but the ones I would recommend are for powerlifters, Olympic lifters or bodybuilders.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
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    Strong Curves is lower-body focused. That seems like it would be a nice compliment to your aerial work.
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
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    I would agree that writing a template to build strength and practicing aerial training seperately is a solid idea.

    What is your training history & response?

  • jeagogo
    jeagogo Posts: 179 Member
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    It may be worth paying a coach who has experience in programming for people in a similar situation. Is there anyone where you do your arial training who has done any resistance training that you could ask where they got their programming from?

    I would agree on the point of working with a trainer if I weren't already spending so darn much on classes and memberships to different gyms and studios. Another $100-200/week would be a bit rough (in my area, trainers generally charge $100+/hour). Unfortunately, the only people I know from aerial and pole who are specifically familiar with other training types are all personal trainers outside of teaching aerial, so I wouldn't want to take advantage of their skillset if I wasn't actually working with them as a trainer, you know?
    It's also a bit like giving a man a fish vs. teaching him to fish - I would prefer to learn to fish so I can be more self sufficient.

    I know pretty well what my weaknesses are outside of aerial so it's easy enough to find which movements will be good to incorporate, I'm just wary of throwing things together and calling it a training plan. Maybe I'm overthinking this?

    @quicksylver0922 I'll check out Strong Curves - thanks for the rec. Maybe I could use that as a base and swap a few things out if needed.




  • cupcakesandproteinshakes
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    jeagogo wrote: »
    It may be worth paying a coach who has experience in programming for people in a similar situation. Is there anyone where you do your arial training who has done any resistance training that you could ask where they got their programming from?

    I would agree on the point of working with a trainer if I weren't already spending so darn much on classes and memberships to different gyms and studios. Another $100-200/week would be a bit rough (in my area, trainers generally charge $100+/hour). Unfortunately, the only people I know from aerial and pole who are specifically familiar with other training types are all personal trainers outside of teaching aerial, so I wouldn't want to take advantage of their skillset if I wasn't actually working with them as a trainer, you know?
    It's also a bit like giving a man a fish vs. teaching him to fish - I would prefer to learn to fish so I can be more self sufficient.

    I know pretty well what my weaknesses are outside of aerial so it's easy enough to find which movements will be good to incorporate, I'm just wary of throwing things together and calling it a training plan. Maybe I'm




    Totally understand about the cost.
    Do you have any experience of barbell training or are you completely new?

    Strong curves isn’t a bad programme for novices to lifting and it is lower body focussed if that’s what you want to train (there is some upper body stuff but less than in other programmes)

    I guess you could try strong curves for a few months and see how you get on. I was a bit concerned about advising as I haven’t a clue how taxing your aerial training is and whether a cookie cutter programme like strong curves might not be appropriate.
  • happysquatter
    happysquatter Posts: 91 Member
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    jeagogo wrote: »
    So I've checked out https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1 which has some great resources, but I'm curious about how to learn to develop a training program to meet my specific needs.

    For reference, I do aerial training (trapeze and pole) 3x/week, so I want my time spent lifting in the gym to work on the things I don't do in aerial. Since I work core and upper body pulling motions so hard in aerial I definitely don't want to be repeating any of those movements too much in the gym.

    I imagine there must be a way to efficiently put together a training program as opposed to just throwing together all the movements I want to work on. Any books or websites that folks can recommend for learning how to put together your own effective training program?

    Good idea! Getting to the point of designing your own program would be ideal. But it's not always straightforward.

    Before giving a long response that might not be warranted since you might be quite advanced - It would help to know what your training has been in strength before this.

    Have you done an LP before? Are you familiar with RPE based training?

    In general, the variables necessary for designing your own programs are (not exhaustive)

    (a) Volume - any work sets that are above 70% of your maximum would count as volume for that workout
    (b) Intensity - weight lifted as a % of your maximum
    (c) Frequency - the number of times you hit a muscle group

    Using just those three, you can craft your own program.

    I hope this helps, at least initially

    Cheers and good luck!